There’s very little change in milk powder markets or veg oils this week, so I’ll take a look back over the last couple of years

In the most bullish of years, it is surprising to see sweet whey finish its 24-month cycle exactly unchanged, after its trip up to €1450 during April. Skim is still in positive territory, but many of the components in blends and milk replacers are astronomically higher, and seemingly staying there for the foreseeable.

Looking at skim over 14 years, when it plunged during the 2008 financial crisis, it is now within a couple of hundred euro of average price over the period.

Sweet whey shows more of the life-cycle of a byproduct, and is now pretty much bang on the rolling average for the period.

But where do we go from here? There is more buying confidence coming back into the market, possibly signalling brakes being put on further slides, and with milk prices still riding high and the increased cost of processing, when current stocks are diminished we could easily see another bull run.

In the meantime, I wish you a very happy Christmas and a successful 2023.

BDC agri is the UK broker for Lacto Production milk and whey powder products.

For further information and prices, contact Greg Dunn on 01206 381521 or g.dunn@blackdiamondcommodities.com